In The Know
by Alidiabin
Summary: 4 Part fic. McGee is the first person to find about Gibbs dating Holly Snow. Gibbs/Holly Snow.
1. Part I

**Title: **In The Know – Part I (1/4)**  
>Fandom: <strong>NCIS**  
>Author: <strong>Alidiabin**  
>Disclaimer: <strong>I own nothing**  
>Warnings Spoilers: ** general S7/8**  
>Parings:<strong> Gibbs/Holly Snow  
><strong>Summary: <strong>McGee is the first to find out about Gibbs and Holly Snow.**  
>Beta<strong>: Anonymous033

_**In the Know – Part I**_

It was Gibbs' overqualified junior field agent who was the first to find out about her and Gibbs.

Holly Snow, former DC madam and now failed thesis writer sat at her laptop at nearly one am, in Gibbs' dining room. She had turned her attention from a thesis on prostitution and female sexuality in classic art to a tell-all book about the rich and powerful men in DC, and their lustful activities. Her publisher had claimed it would be a widely published book read by soccer moms and academics alike. Holly did not quite believe the young and obviously eager man but it felt good after nearly twenty-five years of false truths and half-lies to finally speak the truth, even if the men were written about under assumed names. Gibbs had even joked over one of their steak-and-salad meals that Holly could turn to writing fiction. She had been tempted to give him a taste of his own medicine and slap him.

Holly looked longingly at the stairs leading to Gibbs' bedroom. In a strange turn of events it had been Holly who had been struck with insomnia and the desire to do something, rather than Gibbs**. **Usually, on the nights Holly stayed over, which was perhaps once or twice a week, she would wake to find Gibbs up and dressed with more work done on whatever he was building in his basement. At least she woke up to him; on the nights he stayed over at her new penthouse apartment complete with two alarms after her little stalker episode, she would find him gone the next morning. In recent weeks his ability to stay the night had improved because he had found little chores to do in Holly's apartment. He would fix stuck drawers and unblock drains. He had even bonded with Holly's cat Monet. Holly in return had found some attachment to his lone fish he had named Goldie**.**

There was a faint knocking at Gibbs door. Holly initially thought her mind was playing tricks on her, and concentrated instead on describing every aspect of a Senator's sleazy demeanour without it being too identifying. Then the knocking got louder.

"Boss," a familiar voice cried.

Despite Holly's recognizing the voice she could not quite recall whom the voice belonged to. She grabbed a baseball bat that was lying around Gibbs' untidy but not unclean lounge and walked towards the front door dressed in only one of Gibbs' white undershirts.

She swung the door open, a bat at her side, and came face-to-face with Timothy McGee, Gibbs' underweight and overqualified junior field agent.

"Miss Snow," he said in such a tone that Holly was certain one touch would knock him over. Realisation slowly dawned on his face, as he noticed Holly's messy hair and her choice of apparel**. **His jaw dropped. Holly did not know what to say. It was then that Gibbs stirred. Holly heard him open his door.

"Holly," he shouted tiredly from the top of the landing. He then ran down the stairs. It was then that McGee saw much more of his boss than he wanted to, as Gibbs was wearing only a pair of tight-fitting grey boxers.

"McGee," Gibbs said, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. The younger man swiveled and without another word rushed down the path, still trying to force words out of his mouth but failing to. Gibbs shut the door and put his arms around Holly.

"Does your team know about me?" Holly asked. Gibbs was silent. Holly crooked her neck so she could see him. "Do they?"

"It's not like I told them," Gibbs said. Holly did not know what to say; had Gibbs not even mentioned he was seeing someone? Sure, she had not told the few friends she still had left that she was seeing Gibbs, an NCIS special agent, but they all knew that after years of faking Holly Snow was finally getting some real love and that she could not be happier.

Was Gibbs not as happy as she was? Did he think she was just a fling? It had been six months – flings did not last that long. Was she doing something wrong? She had not had a proper relationship since her first year of college, as she had never thought it wise to have a relationship while participating in her former profession. She was so unschooled in the ways of relationships. Was she overreacting? Was she being too clingy?

"Why?" she asked.

"Never came up," he said as he wrapped his arms around her, hinting for her to come back to bed. She caught his hint and decided to reject it. She teased his arms off her.

"My publisher wants chapter three by tomorrow morning," Holly told him. Gibbs grunted in return, accepting her lie as the truth. He then collected some clean clothes from the couch and headed down into the basement.

That night it was Holly who left Gibbs to wake up alone, and as she slipped out she wondered if Gibbs would even notice.

**A/N**: This is semi related to another oneshot called 'Let It Snow' so you can read that if you'd like. This is a four part story and part two is written and will be up sometime this week. Thank you for reading and reviews will be welcomed.


	2. Part II

A/N Thank you to the awesome Anonymous033 for being an excellent beta.

_In____the____Know – Part II_

Timothy McGee got to his small untidy apartment still in complete and utter shock. Gibbs was doing the dirty with Holly Snow. He found himself disturbed, not just because Gibbs was at least a decade older than Holly but also because it was Gibbs. Gibbs the functional mute. McGee felt just like he did when he had found out his parents had sex. He shuddered, completely freaked out by it all.

McGee's original quest and reason for visiting Gibbs at such a late or an early hour, depending on how you looked it, had been to talk about the latest case. A case in which a twenty-four-year-old Belgravian brat had possibly faked affection for him, so she could ensure her plan to stop her father from signing a treaty went through. McGee, like all of Gibbs' team, had gone in search of bourbon to burn his throat and a couple of gruff words from Gibbs that meant a lot upon reflection; and most importantly to see what Gibbs was building in his basement. It had all been forgotten once he bumped into Holly Snow.

He had to call Abby, Tony, and Ziva, as they would all want to know. He grabbed his phone, knowing the knowledge he currently had was much too good to keep to it to himself until a more sociable hour in the morning. He quickly put his fingers to his iPhone and sent a mass text message.

_Something really important come 2 mine now_

Abby was the first to call back. She always was; always the most concerned and the most likely to overreact. As soon as McGee answered Abby began babbling, asking questions and spewing emotions. McGee finally assured her that both he and Jethro the dog were okay, but that what he had texted her was still super important. Neither Ziva nor Tony called, but sent replies which were variations of _this better be important_.

Ziva arrived first, no doubt because she was speeding. She did not wait for McGee to open the door and instead picked the lock. She was dressed in typical clothes for a late night emergency – the combat pants she'd worn the day before and a grey jumper for a university McGee knew to be in Miami, with a lacy camisole peeking out from behind the zip.

DiNozzo burst into his apartment next.

"There better be a damn good reason for disturbing a DiNozzo's beauty sleep," Tony cried as he also let himself in, dressed in old blue jeans and an OSU jumper.

"Because they certainly do need a lot of it," Ziva replied as she leant against McGee's kitchen counter.

"Well there goes my theory that this was a booty call," Abby cried as she walked through the open door, dressed in a baggy black jumper with skulls on it and a tight pair of black leggings.

"So where is the flame?" Ziva asked. Tony covered his face with his hands in an exaggerated manner.

"Six years," he muttered in a sarcastic tone, the late night obviously having brought out his mean streak. "And she can't," he scrunched up his face. "It hurts too much to talk about it." Ziva punched him. "It's fire. Where is the fire?"

"Timmy," Abby whined. "What's wrong?"

"It's Gibbs," McGee said. Abby began to freak out.

"What do you mean Gibbs?" she cried. "Did he get hurt? Is he in another coma?"

Ziva drifted towards Abby and wrapped her arms around the goth. McGee could see Ziva's silent worry, and Tony's gripping Ziva's wrist and rubbing his index finger on her skin, trying to calm her down.

"He's sleeping with Holly Snow," McGee finally said. All three of them breathed a sigh of relief. Tony laughed. Ziva stepped back from Abby and seemed neutral.

"What?" Abby said. "Holly Snow?"

"She's a redhead, fits the pattern," Tony interjected. Ziva rolled her eyes.

"But...but," Abby cried. Ziva and Tony shot each other concerned looks; for the first time in a long time Abby Sciuto was speechless.

"Why didn't he tell us?" Abby finished with a pout.

"Well to answer that you are going to have to ask the one-and-only Silver Fox himself," Tony replied.

"Ya think," Ziva said, doing her best to parody the one-and-only Leroy Jethro Gibbs; her accent slipped through, reminding McGee of that dream he had had the previous Christmas about Gibbs speaking in an Israeli accent.

"But Gibbs tells me everything. Okay he never told me about his family but that's totally understandable and completely different," Abby babbled. Gibbs had known her for over a decade; how could he have neglected to tell her about his new girlfriend or whatever he called Holly? Abby knew Gibbs thought of her quite like a daughter, so why had he failed to tell her?

"So is that all McTotallyNotAnEmergency?" Tony asked.

"Yeah," McGee said, thinking it was rather anti-climactic.

Ziva and Tony walked out the door, only stopping to give sleeping Jethro a quick pat on the head, and make jokes about each other's clothes. Abby lingered for a few more moments before leaving.


	3. Part III

Thank you Anonymous033 for being an awesome beta!

_**In the Know – Part III**_

Leroy Jethro Gibbs had been married four times, had had a series of flings with various women, and even despite his chauvinistic manner had managed to maintain non-sexual friendships with women usually young enough to be his daughter, but all that being said he was still no closer to understanding the complexities of women. Once he hit forty he had realized that he would probably die not fully understanding women.

Despite all his experience with women he had managed to screw up, and had not one but two women not talking to him, and he was not one hundred per cent sure why. Holly had walked out of his house after a non-fight over his not telling his team about her, and Abby was not talking to him for reasons he was not entirely sure of yet but believed had something to do with Holly. And to add a cherry to the top of his Cake of Silent Treatment the other members of his team – McGee, Tony and Ziva – were all acting strangely. All of this silence gave him a headache.

The elevator stopped at Autopsy as he took his final sip of coffee in his third cup of the day – and it was not even 0900.

_Swish_

Gibbs walked through the Autopsy doors, causing Ducky to look up.

"Jethro," he said, slightly surprised, "I thought for once your team did not have an open case."

"We don't," Gibbs said as he leant against the wall.

"What did you do now?" Ducky asked, not looking up from his paperwork. Gibbs told Ducky and the elder man's pen slipped from his hands in shock. "Well it seems you are not telling anyone anything," Ducky said, slightly agitated.

He had briefly met Holly Snow; had seen her with Gibbs and seen the chemistry, so he was not surprised that Gibbs had a new red-headed girlfriend. But he could not believe how stupid Gibbs had been.

"What do I do to fix it?" Gibbs said. Ducky thought for a second.

"I wonder what great crime I committed in a previous life that has ensured I am your de facto family therapist." Ducky muttered. Gibbs smirked.

Ducky knew exactly what had happened here. Holly thought Gibbs did not view their relationship in the same way that she did because he had not told his team about her. McGee, Tony, and Ziva were in slight shock because they were not used to their boss being in a relationship. Ducky suspected a lot of their strange behaviour was because they were curious and did not know how to talk to Gibbs about his personal life.

Abby, on the other hand, was no stranger to enquiring about Gibbs' personal affairs, so that was not her problem. Abby did not like Gibbs being in a relationship and likened Abby's behavior to the resentment shown by child over a step parent. Abby had long ago become Gibbs' favourite. Her reign as Gibbs' favourite had been unbroken. Yet when a new woman entered Gibbs' life, Abby found herself wondering how long her place as Gibbs' favourite would last. Abby did not want her affection from Gibbs to fade like the final scene in one of DiNozzo's movies, so she acted out by either not talking to Gibbs in preparation for the inevitable moment when Gibbs' lady became more important, or scaring Gibbs' new lady by being super-clingy so she would disappear.

"I think it's time you introduced all of them to each other formally," Ducky said, looking at Gibbs. "May I suggest over food and wine?"

"Thanks Duck," Gibbs said before he walked out.

_Swish_

**XXX**

The team had no case, and despite the early spring weather the squad room felt icy cold. So Gibbs decided to slip out for an hour. He stopped at the coffee shop by Holly's apartment, and bought two coffees and some pastries.

He found himself slightly nervous as he reached Holly's apartment. Though it was hardly Gibbs' first fight with a woman, he had hoped his relationship with Holly would be better than his earlier attempts at relationships. He did not want one minor mistake to mean the end of the fun he was having with Holly. He pressed her buzzer.

"Jethro," she said as she opened the door, "this better be good."

"Coffee," he said, holding out the tray. She took a coffee but still did not let him in. "We gonna talk in the hallway?"

"Doesn't bother me," Holly said as she wrapped her cardigan around her waist.

"It bothers you that I didn't tell my team about you," Gibbs said as he took one of the pastries from the bag. Holly let him in deciding against a hallway conversation.

"Yes," she said. "I've been someone secret for most of my life. I wanted openness for a change."

"Holly, I just wanted my personal and professional lives to be separate," he said, "I didn't mean for it to be like that." Holly nodded. She took a pastry.

"I understand," she said as they sat down on her white couch. Holly did understand, Gibbs was a private person.

"Do you want to come to dinner tomorrow night? Gibbs asked while drinking his coffee. Holly nodded.

_**A/N**_: Next chapter will be up tomorrow.


	4. Part IV

I own nothing. Sigh. And thank you Anonymous033.

_**In the Know – Part IV**_

After making sure he and Holly were on good terms, Gibbs left her apartment so she could keep writing. He stopped by the café closest to the Navy Yard and got another coffee, and a Caf-Pow! for NCIS' resident goth. She was blasting music out of her lab that had even darker and more melancholic lyrics than usual; yet another sign to Gibbs that she was angry. He put the Caf-Pow! on the silver table to use as a bargaining chip. She looked at him and looked at it. She uttered nothing and retuned to what she was doing on the computer.

"Abs," he said. Abby again refused to look at him. "Abby," he repeated.

"When were you going to tell us?" she asked in a bitter tone.

"I don't know," Gibbs said, shrugging his shoulders. He honestly did not. He had not foreseen himself and Holly Snow lasting that long as he was so bad in relationships.

"Were you gonna tell us?" Abby asked. Gibbs heard that as _were you going to tell me?_

Gibbs looked down at the ground; again, he did not know. He was a private person; he kept his personal and professional lives separate, but Abby, Ducky, and his team had long ago crossed the line from being in his professional life to being in his personal one too.

Abby looked around her lab; her second home, a place she affectionately called 'Labby'.It was littered with personal mementos, including photos of her and Gibbs' at her Birthday dinners and other outings the two of them had taken – at fairs, a hike, and once to a Halloween parade. Gibbs was also on-call for her when she needed him; if she had a plumbing problem or found her hearse had more than just a flat tire Gibbs was there, and that would stop now that he had a girlfriend. Abby enjoyed these outings, and had made Gibbs her surrogate father in place of her long-dead one. Gibbs actually did a better job than Ezekiel Sciuto ever had. She was going to miss all the fun with Gibbs now that he had his new girlfriend.

"So birthday dinners are going to stop?" Abby said, as after many seconds of resistance she finally grabbed the Caf-Pow!.

"No. Why would they?" Gibbs said, finding himself reminded of Ducky's comment about Ducky being his de facto family therapist. Abby felt like a stepchild. She felt Gibbs would not have time for her because he had Holly.

"It's just," Abby paused; how could Gibbs not realize? A girlfriend meant no time for friends. "You have Holly."

"She'd get sick of me if she spent all her time with me," Gibbs said. "And besides I wouldn't miss your birthday dinners for the world, Abs."

"Really?" Abby said. Gibbs nodded. He put his mostly empty coffee-cup down in preparation for the bone-crushing hug he was about to receive. Abby rushed to him, engulfing him with a massive bear hug. "I've missed you Gibbs, even though you were right here but I missed talking to you. I didn't get to tell you about bowling practice or how Sister Rosita is still having Carpal Tunnel issues." Gibbs hugged her back, relieved to have her talking to him again.

**XXX**

He walked into the squad room after over three hours away, to find Ziva hovering over Tony at his desk as they laughed at a video on his screen.

"Hey Boss," Tony said noticing his boss's presence and desperately trying to pretend he was working. "I was just showing Ziva..." he looked to his partner for a response as his motor mouth had stopped running.

"He was just showing me where North Carolina is. It's where our vic in the Pearson case was from," Ziva said, sounding entirely unconvincing.

She was rather bad at lying over little things much to the teams amusement. Gibbs knew Ziva knew exactly where it was; she had studied a map of the USA for her citizenship exam, and knew every state and its capital.

"I don't care," Gibbs said; he would care if they were messing around when they actually had a case, but he did not care today Perhaps old age was making him soft. "You're all invited to dinner tomorrow night." All three of them were speechless – Gibbs seldom instigated social events. McGee and Tony's jaws dropped in unison. Ziva smiled. "Yes Holly will be there, and yes she and I are together, but you already knew that." Gibbs walked off, intending to talk to Ducky.

**XXX**

Gibbs wondered what movie reference Tony was thinking of as the de facto family sat around the table. Holly had spent all afternoon making a delicious meal. Ziva had brought homemade bread, Abby iced cookies, and two different varieties of wine had been provided by both McGee and Tony. The adults were all enjoying pleasant conversation. Even Abby and Holly had bonded initially over shoes but the conversation had changed tides into something of a sexual nature, which Ziva had joined into. Tony and McGee were laughing and trying to join in and defend their gender as the women discussed previous lovers and their sexual faults. Gibbs began to wonder why he had not introduced the team to Holly as his girlfriend sooner as the group got along fine even after Abby's little freak-out.

"We must do this again," Holly said as she proposed at toast. The others joined in.

_**A/N**_: So that concludes my 100th fanfic. Thank you for all the reviews, story alerts and favorites.


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